AIWA Celebrates 25 Years with Focus on Upcoming Challenges

As a founding member of the organization, Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) reported that the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association (AIWA), the guardian and champion of the 1,100-mile historic and vital waterway from Norfolk, Virginia, to Key West, Florida, celebrated its quarter century anniversary at the organization’s recent annual meeting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Just 25 years ago, with shoaling threatening navigation, there was very little federal spending for dredging and harbor maintenance. Thanks to AIWA’s efforts, in just the past three years, more than $135 million has been allocated by Congress to maintain depths, improve navigation and support port infrastructure on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW).

However, new opportunities and challenges have arisen since the organization’s founding.

One newer challenge facing the AICW, also known as “America’s Marine Highway 95,” is the increasing pace of surface transportation projects, including necessary repairs to bridges over the waterway, which may not be well coordinated with the maritime community. A bridge repair or replacement project and the use of heavy equipment in the waterway can impede navigation.

Another challenge may, ironically, have its origins in the waterway’s own success story. As the AICW has gained footing as a desirable boating location, vacant residential waterfront lots are being developed – often to the edge of lot lines – hampering the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to reach the waterway to make repairs.

Adding to the waterway’s increasing popularity is channel encroachment by structures and boats, including residential piers, floating docks and berthed vessels. The channel’s open-water authorized width is 150-feet. Enhancing safety for all waterway users is also on the agenda.